'Candidates with criminal records being fielded by Congress, BJP'

Little seems to have changed with major political parties continuing to patronise candidates with criminal records, including murder, and giving them nominations for the coming election.

The Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch, in its latest report, says both the Congress and the BJP continue to give tickets to candidates with serious criminal records, with 30 percent of the 92 candidates analysed having declared criminal cases against themselves in their previous election affidavit.

In the second in a series of reports, the ADR analysed the candidates announced by the Congress second list and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) third list.

Of the candidates' list it analysed, 28 candidates or 30 percent had declared criminal cases against themselves in their previous election affidavit. The BJP has 17 of 53 candidates with criminal cases and Congress has 11 of 39 candidates with criminal cases.

In an analysis of the financial position of the candidates, it said of the 92 candidates analysed, 44 candidates have declared total assets of more than Rs.1 crore.

Of the 92 candidates analysed, 50 are sitting Lok Sabha MPs.

Party-wise crorepati candidates: 24 out of 39 candidates in INC and 20 of 53 candidates in BJP have declared total assets worth more than Rs.1 crore.

Candidates with Cases of Attempt to Murder: Two candidates had declared cases of attempt to murder. Ramesh Chand Tomar of INC from Gautam Buddh Nagar Constituency and Satish Dubey of BJP from Valmiki Nagar Constituency, in Bihar, had declared a case of attempt to murder in his previous election affidavit, said a statement from ADR.

Candidates with cases related to electoral violations: Kirti Jha Azad of BJP from Darbhanga Constituency had declared a case related to illegal payments in connection with an election.

Average Assets of Re-contesting MPs: The average assets of 50 re-contesting MPs is Rs.4.05 crore.

Number of crorepati Re-contesting MPs: Out of 50 re-contesting MPs, 21 had declared assets worth more than Rs.1 crore in their previous election affidavits.

ADR demanded that political parties should refrain from giving tickets to candidates with serious criminal cases and take a stand against misuse of money power, bribing of voters and distribution of freebies. Political parties should move towards transparency and disclose the criteria for selection of candidates, it said.